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MP3s From The Phone Box
An Economist writes "The .com bubble has come and gone, but the great ideas and implementations are starting to come through thick and fast now. The BBC reports on a planned development in the UK - download MP3s (or the like) from the phone box. Walking along the street and fancy a song - just plug in your iPod/MuVo/iRiver/whatever... awesome! Perhaps the lauded benefits of eCommunication are just beginning to be felt - plus it increases the viability of old-tech phone boxes, which are socially beneficial but financially challenged."
I'm envisioning someone figuring out how to boot off an iPod and using spare hard drive space to trade pirated software.
Hmm... Warezchalking?
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
Can somone say $hit or get off the pot? Geeebus, as if people don't take long enough at the phone booth.
Now I can get 16 kbps quality music for 10 cents a minute and 2 bucks a song.
Think about it - they are tergetting a niche market (Ipod owners) with an even nichier product (downloading songs on the road). And, to top it off, how often will a given person do it? Maybe once or twice, for that one time you are own the road and need a particular song. Otherwise, you'd get most of your music at home. I mean, they are losing money with telephone calls (where you might actually get repeat customers), and that doesn't even require them to pay for a high speed connection. No, I suspect this project is doomed already.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
Cause its so more practical to load music at a phonebooth, in public, than in the comfort of your home. I don't see the point here, honestly. An Ipod hold so much music that you'll always have something non-boring to listen to anyway.
Eureka Science News - automatically updated
"Under the plans, anyone owning an iPod or portable music player would be able to go into a phonebox and download a song while out shopping or on a lunch break."
Well, just about every player has a different method of song transfer. Many require databases to be constructed, and there are so many obscure models out there... Most don't have Line-Ins to record off of, so what are they going to do?
... face up to facts and do away with phone boxes. They could use the money that they save to launch some satellites and give us all 1Gb worth of free bandwidth each.
Can't say that I speak for everyone, but I really can't imagine using this service. How often do you find yourself walking down the street thinking "man, I'd pay anything just to listen to some Moby right now"?
And it's not so much the cost. Who wants to stand there, navigate a bunch of menus and wait for a download just for a 3-minute song?
Maybe I'd pay for general internet access, but I can do that at a coffee shop. If I'm tired of what I've got on my iPod, I can always listen to the radio. The concept just doesn't seem to fill a desire.
Downloading music seems a little narrow. If they can provide the infrastructure for that, why not make them into more general network access points? Since phone booths are so prone to being vandalized, it probably won't work to provide a computer, but they could provide ports to which people could plug in their laptops, PDAs, etc. as well as devices like iPods. Maybe a wireless access point too.
a beep in the song every minute reminding me to put in 2 quarters?
I can see it now
2600 Autumn 2004 Edition
NEW MP3 Phone Box CENTERFOLD POSTER INSIDE!!!
(In case you didn't know 2600 (aka the Hacker's Quarterly obsesses about every type of telephone box))
The last time I used a public phone was probably only a couple months ago, when I was out without my cell phone and needed to phone somebody. Believe it or not, not everyone has a working cell phone on them at all times, and the ability to make phone calls from a public place at a nominal fee really is useful.
Too much repetition my too much repetition!
but with all the viruii, and fake viruii announcements from fedora-redhat.com, can you really trust a box left out in the open? I'd think it'd be a ripe offer for tampering. I can just image the 2600 articles now...
CB*($@#
free ipod and free gmail!
Kudos for the time-travel-was-only-phase-1 dept. for writing a story that made me actually RTFA, because even after reading it few times in a row I didn't understand a single thing. Now, when I have RTFA and know what are we talking about, I have an idea. Why cannot they install CD-R burners and CD/booklet printers in booths of some sort to allow buying the same music as a customly composed CD having only to reload it with CD-Rs, paper and ink once in a while, while making every single song ever recorded available in the most convenient way imaginable and for relatively low cost and minimal overhead?
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
No? Quick respond NOW! As I am one of the Y generationn I can't wait for more than 10 SECONDS!
On their recent tour, the Pixies offered CDs of the show recorded and mized live to fans walking out the door. I could see a kiosk at concert venues allowing fans to downlaod the night's show to their iPod. It would proably be faster than burning CDs. A phone both however, is not something I currently associate with music, and I don't thing it would catch on, but i buy most of my CD's at concerts, where I know the money is going to the artist. Apple is going to realse a U2 special edition iPod next week, and is rumored to be working on A sub $200 flash player. How long till digital complete overtakes cd's?
sorry 'bout the mess...
So, you want a 3 day waiting period on phone sex and internet porn?
The system had the verbosity of HTML combined with all the readability of compiled assembly viewed as bitmap images
Up take for niche services like these requires very low entry requirements - like low price, little registration hazzles, ultra convenient - in order to gain momentum.
And btw, if wireless internet over cellular ever gets realistically cheap - it should just kill off this phonebooth music downloading idea easily.
Sunset over the lake, cool mist over the bridge; A leave upon the ripples, the snow reflects its glow.
Man don't even joke like that....
Sometimes when you're traveling you find out that your provider dosen't work in a certain area. That or your phone decides to die. Not everyday happenings, but they sure as hell seem beneficial to you then.
Emerald Astrology
You must have never watched Dr. Who, who would frequently use lifts to go from floor to floor and would occasionally open the bonnet on a car or put something in the boot. Did I get all that right? I'm not British after all ... I just like a lot of your TV shows.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Drug dealers are people too!
... and never mind that a CD is a digital medium.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
From the product offering it sounds like the idea was given life from a bunch of yes men, and not things like demographic surveys and similar technologies that are currently in place.
I'm not suggesting stifiling innovation, but to me, this sounds like a sales pitch that will prove worthless in the long run, and come to think of it, in the short run. People just don't need instant gradification under every circumstance. Imagine that, Mr. marketer.How do you avoid the lameness filter then?
Remember, it takes 42 muscles to frown and only 4 to pull the trigger of a sniper rifle.
No, as you are one of the Y generation your attention span is less than ten seconds.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Stay on all day if you like.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
How about being able to download old episodes of Dr Who from a phone booth... how cool would that be?
Other possible things to dispense from a phone booth:
They had something like this in Hong Kong Since 2002. And it shows how slow the west is.
Phone booths are for making phone calls. I don't want to download mp3s, read my email, or order takeout from my public phone. For starters I'd like to be able to make calls. With mobiles so prevalent public phone boths are being scrapped and falling into disrepair everywhere. There aren't many places in my local area I can even make a public phone call from a booth anymore.
.com bomb thinking all over again. "I know. Lets put in lots of infrastructure for a small return and wonder why the share price doesn't continue to skyrocket while our losses mount."
What advantage does public phone mp3 offer over at home internet access? If you're on the road there are Internet cafes everywhere already - many of them with 24 hr acces - and provided they'll let you hook into their computer you're all set.
I'd be more excited about wireless broadband downloads on a small mp3 player like the ipod. All you'd need is the wireless modem built in, plus a simple interface to have a music store in your pocket. THAT would be more worthwhile.
Phone booth mp3 downloads are old
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
It's okay ... I doubt too many Bible-thumping bureaucrats read Slashdot. At least, I hope they don't. There are way too many bad ideas like that here that they probably couldn't think up for themselves.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Is this reporter guy running some sort of automated essay generation script? These comments read like one of those pages that a link spammer puts out where they take your google search terms and make it look like the page is relevant but then it makes no real sense at all. Go away, reporter troll. Yahoo message boards are more appropriate for you.
its a Non US thing, hence the BBC, and "planned development in the UK"
keanmarine.com
Not all of us either care to or can afford to carry a cell phone with us everywhere we go.
Payphones oftentimes have decent mics and need no batteries. And moreover 800 numbers can be quite costly on a cell compared to a pay phone (where in my experience they are sometimes free!).
When the original MPMan came out in Korea, these little booths popped up close to 10 years ago. I think it succeeded over there, but I don't see it being a big enough market on this side of the ocean.
Shouldn't be making these things any more useful. Publically available land lines for voice communication should be outlawed. If everyone were required to talk over wireless, the government (specifically the NSA) could do a better job at tracking down terrorists that are scouting around our country, using public phones to report their progress. There would no longer be a need for cooperation from the obstructionist telephone companies. Powerful satelites would be able to pluck everything from the air.
I disagree.
You forget to mention TERRORISTS. And while we're at it, we should ban email, personal ads, and the Post Office is a proven mode of delivery for anthrax. Anyone speaking in a foreign language had better not try that in public either.
Whilst not the big thing they used to be, keeping a few in service is worthwhile.
Ph-nglui mglw'nafh Gates M'dna wgah'nagl fhtagn.
But now we can download songs? Well! That's something new and useless. Why would I want to do that when I could 1) do it at home more easily or 2) do it at a record store with more selection?
.mp3s for a fee but anything will do, like wifi access just for example. Anything really to justify their existance if for nothing else but 911 access.
I think that's rather the point. Because of mobile phones it seems like the phone booth is less nessicary than it once was. I have to admit, the reason I got a mobile again is simply because because i'm not seeing as many public telephones as i'd like. So why the hell not offer a useful service from these places that are otherwise not as profitable as they once were.
So why the hell not offer some form of useful service. The street locations are already alocated, they have power and phone lines attached to them, why not let them do something. Not nessicarly offering
Public telephones... more than just for drug dealing.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
iPod compatible? Sounds like Real Networks to me. But I still don't know how they will get the music into your iPod catalog w/o iTunes integration, which Apple is unlikely to give up...
Perhaps the lauded benefits of eCommunication are just beginning to be felt
Well, finally.
Now I just can't wait to see these supposed places where millions of people anywhere in the world can share information and ideas.
I still use payphones, and now I won't feel as dirty for not having a cell because I can just say I'm downloading music.
The phone boxes may already be using VOIP, contain sufficient CPU power, and USB host support might be a no brainer. These phone boxes may already contain a small PC.
TFA also says they will start with their information kiosks which already have net access.
This may be an obvious next step, and a simple software change (though I agree, it seems pointless)
09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
I don't quite understand how iPod downloads would work given Apple's DRM.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
The .com bubble has come and gone, but the great ideas and implementations are starting to come through thick and fast now.
And look! Everyone's still unemployed! The entire fucking economy is using computers, and the average technically-intelligent person has about as much chance of finding a job in technology that lasts longer than five weeks as they do of pulling a Faberge egg out of their ass.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
argan0n
iPods allow you to load songs onto them, but don't let you take them back off with out resorting to third-party software.
This probably doesn't apply to most of the people here, but the average iPod owner doesn't know about this software and therefore has no way to get music off of the device. For most people, this setup will result in a song that can't be copied to your computer. Since you can only download an iTunes song once, you are be stuck with your one iPod-bound copy unless you buy it from your home computer.
Would be quite useful, except for the fact that most of them are positioned in locations that have nowhere within range suitable for sitting with a laptop ... and especially no nearby car parking spaces.
Are you saying people shouldn't be able to protect their identity when making phone calls, sending e-mail or mailing a letter? Like maybe you want to call a suicide hotline but would rather not be forcibly confined and medicated? I am scared to live in your country and more affraid I probably already do.
Is what they should do with the phone boxes. Something with a little more range, security and bandwidth than 802.11b (suggestions?). Lets face it, voice is just data and the boxes are already connected to a digital network.
Deleted
Err, not its not. A box is a hollow shape, typically with a rectangular base and four perpendicular sides.
In this case "booth" and "box" are synonyms, since both have the definition: "A small, separated compartment in a public space"
That would piss off... well not that many people, but still. I wonder how they're goi~g to integrate the new" music with the databases of existing music.
Are BT going to have to take iTunes apart in order to get it to talk?
Personally, I think this is an absolute crap idea. I'd be extremely surprised if it ever takes off and manages to provide an adequate level of service.
Fight Crime - Shoot Back!
...BT can't actually do away with all their phone boxes without a massive public outcry. I remember BT planning to remove a phonebox right next to a very high bridge (with quite a high suicide rate), and were effectively ordered by the council to continue operating it. I'm not saying all phone boxes should stay - their are too many phoneboxes, simply because many were required when few had mobile phones.
I'll give you an example - in English sports, there are several competitions involving teams from throughout the WHOLE COUNTRY, and not one of them is known as the 'World Series'.
What I want is this:
* A mobile phone that can play mp3-files and that have memory to store at least ten songs
* A mobile phone service provider where I can pay a fixed amount of money each month for "unlimited" bandwith
That way I could download songs into my mobile phone from my server at home, where I have my whole mp3-collection. I think we are almost there but I know of now mobile phone operators that have this kind of deal. Yet.
And how long befor some enterprising hack , fixes the phone box so that it always downloads Malware into your ipod ?
Master of Peng Shui.Ancient oriental art of Penguin Arranging)
Knowing BT it will be cheaper just to walk into a shop and buy the CD.
Plenty of 0800 numbers don't accept calls from payphones, because they are charged a considerable amount more for the incoming calls. There's even a bit defined in the SS7 protocol for "I'm a payphone, ignore me".
Even IF I wanted to download music on the road wouldn't a better solution be from my cell phone? All cell phones in Japan can be used as modems using a cheap cable. The AU phones here do 2.4megabits down.
Signing up to iTunes affiliate program doesn't cost much... and they get a free pod of every five phones. ;)
I believe this device can connect to cameras and the like as a host to transfer files. Job done.
The reason I think this will work is that music is an impulse buy. The newest British phone boxes already have a big (17") colour screen, fast net access, and the guts of a PC, so all the extra hardware this will need is a USB socket (which makes sense if they want business users to move files around anyway). The revenue model is very nice for BT, they might make *something* on the bandwidth, but make a lot more selling advertising on that colour screen that's already there for internet access.
If a kid is walking past a phone box that is showing that video he saw last night on TV, can hear a 20 second clip by lifting the handset and can buy a download of the song right there and then, then I think we finally have a decent 'bricks and mortar' replacement for the record shop.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
I would love to see a similar idea for books and print media. Printing/binding on request would save a LOT of storage and manufacturing costs, even if it does increase the cost of maufacturing each book.
Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped. Calvin Coolidge
Something like Lulu or iUniverse should probably be possible to set up nearly some large book store. It wouldn't be as fast as burning a CD but probably doable in some reasonable time.
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
An absolute disgrace!
BT are busy shutting down phone boxes all over the rural countryside. They leave councils little time to appeal their decisions, and require a seperate case for leaving phone boxes for each single box. Councils can't handle this in the time given, and so the closures go ahead.
BT are wasting money on this tosh! Same with their video and internet payphones.
A disgrace!
With wifi all over and growing fast, even in rural areas, this seems to be a clossal waste of money. Put the money toward the new tech and scrap the old useless one.